A Path With Paws

From my past notes-
Treating Serena today. She was very resistant, trying to get away and glaring at me. Finally I offered to take her static head energy away but I told her it was up to her how much to give me. She began to calm down and started purring. She was ok with that as long as she was in charge. She also didn’t want me to tell her mom what I was doing. Somehow it was important to her to not only be in charge but to not have me be viewed as the healer. This was about her not me.

When I came to visit her a month ago she was ready to leave. She had this amazing headache and was very open to me removing it because she had given up and just wanted the pain to end. Many times with animals they need to feel what it feels like not to have pain before they can get there themselves. This visit she felt better and was ready to be in charge again.

A few months after I wrote this Serena passed away from complications from her brain tumor. I’ll always remember her as being the spunky blond girl she was, very confident, loving, and opinioned.

Another little dog I work with named Buddy came to see me a couple years ago, in extreme pain and desperation after re-injuring his back and becoming unable to move his back legs at all. He would have happily left this plane of existence at that point. After I was able to work with him and decrease the pain and get a little bit of sensation back in his legs he was a whole new dog. He was ready to live again and he knew he could get better. And he did in happy little steps along the path of healing until today he walks almost normally again. He believed what he felt and used that to heal himself.

Us humans are so focused on words that we don’t often pay attention to the real cues our bodies are sending us. These are the cues I work with when I do acupuncture treatments. We end up with thought patterns stuck in our heads which tell us what we should feel and believe. Many times these develop from what doctors or family members have told us and aren’t even our own thoughts. We tend to believe these thoughts more than the reality of what we are actually feeling. Often these thought patterns are harder to change than to just deal with the pain or disease. In humans, treating chronic pain involves both the body and the mind.

How many times have you been sick or hurt and not listened to your body telling you to slow down or do less? And then ended up getting sicker? Animals don’t argue with what their body is telling them, they just do it. I know I still have a lot to learn about this from the animals I work with.

With animals they believe what they feel so if you show them they can have decreased pain they will respond and believe that with their whole body and not just their minds. Animals don’t get stuck in their heads in the same way we do and because of this they can be present with the current moment and have no attachments to what the next moment will bring.

In my work, I help these animals find the healing energy that is already there. Their bodies know how to heal, but sometimes they need help in finding the way. Once they know the direction to go, they naturally travel there themselves, I just give them a hand to hold along the way.

We are so very thankful to have our fuzzy friend Mel still in our lives. You never realize how fragile life is until you see your dog laid out on the table and know that there is a less than 50% chance that you will never be able to look into his eyes again and tell him you love him. Watching his chest rise and hearing his heart beat but knowing that he is one wrong move away from death.

It was three months ago today that we almost lost our dog Mel to adrenal cancer. On October 29th Dr. Tim Kraabel at Lien Animal Clinic removed a large adrenal tumor and Mel’s left kidney is a three hour surgery. Tim said it was the most difficult surgery of his twenty year veterinary career.

We know that there is still the possibility that the cancer will return but for now we have our friend. He is pretty much back to normal except for the fact that he will no longer eat anything unless it has duck in it. Go figure.

We are also so thankful for having Tim Kraabel’s help. He diagnosed the tumor on a radiograph when both the board certified radiologist and I missed it, and he performed a very difficult surgery most veterinarians would not have been able to do and saved Mel’s life. How to offer thanks for saving a friend’s life? Words can not say enough.

I found this interesting article in the New York Times today Babies Know: A Little Dirt Is Good for You. While lately we have been hearing about how a little dirt and animal hair is actually good for us, this article goes one step further in explaining that intestine worms may also be good for our immune systems.

In fact they have found that some intestinal worms actually help people (should be the same for our animal friends) with autoimmune diseases such as asthma, allergies, or even some of the more severe ones like MS, diabetes, and inflammatory bowel disease. It makes me wonder if some of the rise in autoimmune illness in animals is linked to the routine deworming some of our animals receive. I hope they do more research on this subject!

I found this article today and thought it was fun to see what people are naming their pets. I’ve known many animals with the common names but none with the unusual ones. What’s the most unusually named animal you have met?

Top dog names
1. Max
2. Bailey
3. Bella
4. Molly
5. Lucy
6. Buddy
7. Maggie
8. Daisy
9. Sophie
10. Chloe

Top cat names
1. Max
2. Chloe
3. Tigger
4. Tiger
5. Lucy
6. Smokey
7. Oliver
8. Bella
9. Shadow
10. Charlie

Most unusual dog names
1. Rush Limbark
2. Sirius Lee Handsome
3. Rafikikadiki
4. Low Jack
5. Meatwad
6. Peanut Wigglebutt
7. Scuddles Unterfuss
8. Sophie Touch & Pee
9. Admiral Toot
10. Spatula

Most unusual cat names
1. Edward Scissorpaws
2. Sir Lix-a-lot
3. Optimus Prrrime
4. Buddah Pest
5. Snoop Kitty Kitty
6. Miss Fuzzbutt
7. 80 Bucks
8. Sparklemonkey
9. Rosie Posie Prozac
10. Toot Uncommon

On Mondays, I descend down into the basement to disappear into my world of herbs. Once there I spend a couple hours smelling, touching and tasting, to create formulas to help the animals I work with. As I work I can hear the ancient wisdom of the past herbal masters whispering to me and feel the vibrations of these plants, many which were on this planet before us. To me working with these herbs is like cooking, only I am making up a recipe for healing by harnessing the amazing powers of these living things.

One of my clients is a paralyzed dachshund. Making up a formula for him, I call upon four of my favorite herbs to form a blood tonic. The four are all roots – foxglove, peony, Chinese angelica, and lovage – and are earthy and strong. I love to tea these in the winter and sit on my window seat sipping the strong rich tea they make. I can feel how these herbs work to strengthen me from the inside so that I have the energy to heal. This is what I want for this little dog.

Roots are also very grounding because they come from the earth and they help to hold us to the ground so we do not float away with our thoughts. In China this herbs are cooked up with a chicken soup in the winter to help older people with aches and pains.

Most of these dachshunds have closed channels because of traumatic disc injury. I can tonify the blood all I want but it is like trying to send water down a plugged hose. I add a handful of earthworms into this formula, which the Chinese say get into the blood channels and wiggle them open like a roto rooter opening a clogged drain.

After opening and tonifying, I add a few generous pinches of the light and vibrant orange safflowers to move and lift up these heavy grounding roots. These along with peach seed will help to move the blood down this little guy’s back legs so they can work again.

Finally to work with pain, I add corydalis, which is a powerful mover of blood, and painkiller.

Chinese Herbal Medicine is all about how the herbs work together and most formulas have ten or more herbs. It is an art based on the powers that emerge when these herbs joint forces. No one herb is powerful on its own but together these amazing plants can perform miracles.

Many times I will not know what I am going to put in a formula until I am staying in front of my herbs. Then one herb will just leap out and say, “use me!” Sometimes it will be an herb I am not familiar with but when I rush to my materia medica and look it up turns out to be exactly what I need.

Plants have an energy and a power of their own and often my job is to listen more than to think. When I think too much I come up with a generic formula, which may help, but my most powerful formulas come when the herbs lead the way.

By the end of my day, I am usually covered with herb dust and my nose is full of the many smells and flavors of the herbs I have mingled with. Up the stairs I go once again out to the busy world of traffic and electronics…until next week.

This formula is now available through my etsy store Kingdom of Basil

I can upon this story today, Outlaw Bikers Rescue Orphaned Kittens, about a group of bikers, who had rescued 180 kittens about to end up on the streets. I found the group, Rescue Ink’s, website and learned that these men had committed themselves to rescuing animals and ending animal abuse. Believe me if I was an abused dog this is who I would want to come to my rescue. I don’t think these guys would be afraid of confronting anyone!

In my work I have found that animal people just have a way of coming together. It matters not how we look, our income level, our backgrounds, or our politics. There is just something about the people who speak for those who can not speak for themselves that you have to admire and love.

Pamela, a friend of mine and a very dedicated rescuer, asked for help is finding Thor a new foster home or a permanent adoption. If you can help or you know someone who can please contact her. Thor is in Seattle.

Pamela wrote:
My name is Pamela, I am fostering an American Bull Dog, M/N. I am fostering for Animals First Foundation. He is black and white. His previous owner about 1 1/2 years ago was in a wheel chair, got evicted, he was left homeless. He have been at AFF for over a year. At a bordering facility, he was neglected and the results were a very large wound on his chest. It is all healed. I am intensely working on obedience.

I have a few more details about Thor. He his actually good with cats. My cats are dog friendly and can sense dogs that aren’t cat friendly. We are still testing him on dogs. HE is CRATE trained. He is NOT a barker, loves to watch tv on the couch with you.(couch potato) $7.00 a day will be paid while fostering Thor. His training is going so well that putting him back in the kennel situation would harm that training. He walks on a gentle lead.

There is some incentive for fostering. All supplies and medicals are paid for.
If interested please call me 206-427-6454
Pamela Brumell pgbrumell@gmail.com

Maggie tries really hard to be a good guard dog. When you come to the door of her home, you can hear her barking in a strange muffled way, which makes you wonder until the door is opened and you realize she has a teddy bear in her mouth. That being said Maggie loves people and once she meets you she is all smiles, teddy bear or no teddy bear. Maggie has a way of smiling with her eyes that just draws people in.

When I meet Maggie she had been diagnosed with osteosarcoma or bone cancer in one of her front legs. At the time her family were exploring options to treat her but one thing was almost certain, regardless of treatment, in a year she would no longer be with us. Bone cancer has a very poor prognosis, usually causing death within three months with no treatment and within 6-12 months with aggressive treatment.

I could tell when I met Maggie’s family how important she was to them. Her family lived in a wonderful older home with one of those grand living rooms and they really liked having photos of those they loved in this space. When I walked in I immediately noticed that there were as many photos of Maggie and the kitties of the household as there were of the human family members. Her family told me how difficult it was for them to have Maggie sick because their previous dog had died of lung cancer and now Maggie also had a cancer that usually spread to the lungs.

We talked for a long time about the options that were available for Maggie. They had already seen an oncologist and had set up appointments for radiation and chemotherapy but they really were hoping for some way for Maggie to completely beat the cancer.

I always like to give people hope and tell them that not every animal follows the textbooks and that acupuncture can sometimes dramatically change the course of an illness but at the same time I try to be realistic. I explained that we could probably double Maggie’s time here and make her feel better but that it would be unlikely that we would completely get remission. I remember looking at this beautiful dog so full of life and her family who loved her so much and thinking that it was so tragic that she would not make it to old age.

As time passed Maggie did not get sick but she did become incredibly painful because of the tumor in her leg. I would show up to treat her and she would no longer get up most of the time. When I looked in her eyes, I saw so much pain. I felt so bad that not even the strongest drugs we had and the acupuncture could keep the pain away for her.

Amputation became the only option to stop Maggie’s pain but what a difficult decision. I saw her family struggle with the decision of what seemed like a major mutilation of her body to them. Maggie had lived almost a year with the cancer at this point and by everyone’s assessment she was supposed to be gone by now. Was it worth doing an amputation only to have her die a few months later?

Amputation is one of the hardest decisions for an animal’s human companions to make. So many thoughts go through their mind. Will they still be whole? Will they want to be alive with only three legs? Will they still be able to do the things they love? Will they understand why I did this or hate me for taking away a part of their body?

One day Maggie got up and when she stepped down on her front leg it broke right in two. The cancer had weakened the bone so much that it could no longer support her weight. At this point it became a much easier decision to make and Maggie had the leg amputated almost immediately.

With three legs, Maggie may not be able to go for long walks like she used to and the stairs are sometimes hard for her to navigate but Maggie greets each day with a playful spirit and a happiness to be here. She loves to greet neighbors who walk by and many people in the neighborhood know her as the dog that cancer could not take.

These days I do not treat Maggie as often and our main concern is keeping her legs healthy so she can continue to get around. I feel like coming to treat Maggie is like seeing an old friend.

She rolls over on her side after the needles are in and I stroke her belly and neck. If I stop for even a moment she lifts her head to look at me with those big eyes, “please don’t stop.” There is a familiarity and a comfort in visiting Maggie and it feels like I have been included in her special family of people who she shares her happiness, love and the journey of her battle with cancer.

When I stopped by Maggie’s house this week she bounced over to greet me with a tennis ball in her mouth and than run to the other edge of the yard to pick up another one. She raced around with the two tennis balls and a big smile, “look what I can do.” As I walked up to the door she bounced up and down next to me, “mom, look who’s here, look who’s here!”

It has been almost two years since Maggie lost her leg and close to three since she was diagnosed with cancer. This happy golden retriever with the sparkling brown eyes has beaten the odds.

2/17/2011 Update. It has been over two years since I wrote this and Maggie is still cancer free and doing well!

1/18/12 Maggie sadly passed away a couple days ago. She was almost 13 years old and it had been almost six years since her cancer diagnosis. We are all grieving for her, she was very loved. Please visit Maggie Rose a beautiful poem written in honor of Maggie by her human father.

Return to Integrative and Holistic Methods for Treating Cancer in Cats and Dogs

What do they eat you ask?
My cats like a variety of different foods. Contrary to what many vets will say, I think it is good to mix and match at least flavors, if not brands. It makes it less likely that your pet will develop allergies and gives them something to look forward to. Some animals do need to be on one constant diet and animals who have been on one food for a long time have a harder time with a sudden change.
Here are some brands of cat and dog food I really like
Felidae/Canidae, Wellness, Evo/Innova, Merrick, Evangers, Weruva, California Natural, Honest Kitchen
There are many other good food choices. If you are in the Seattle area, we have wonderful natural pet food stores with great food to choice from. Always read the label before buying anything and make sure meat is the first ingredient for cats and dogs. Home cooked meals and raw diets are also great options for most animals. Darwin’s is a local raw food company with delivery in the Seattle area.
Things to avoid
1. Science Diet. This is not a high quality diet but many vets still recommend it because it is all we were taught in nutrition during veterinary school.
2. Iams/Eukanuba was bought out by Proctor/Gamble many years ago. The quality of this food has gone straight down hill since plus P/G is the worst company when it comes to animal testing.
3. By-products aka beaks, blood, infection, sawdust, fur, etc By-product can be any part of an animal or anything that animal fluids have touched.
4. Animal or Meat by product This is any animal that ends up at rendering including euthanized pets. It doesn’t get any worse than this, not only are you making your animal a cannibal but you are also feeding them small amounts of euthanasia solution. Yuck!
5. BHT/BHA These are nasty preservatives linked to liver problems and cancer. These can also be in human food.
6. ethoxyquin- bad, bad, bad They used this stuff to preserve telephone poles. It is also a rubber stabilizer and a pesticide. Monsanto conducted research years ago, but the results were so inconclusive due to unprofessional conduct and documentation that the FDA demanded another study which was never done. This stuff has been linked to just about every disease you can think of.
7. corn-this is a filler and not a very good one. It also is a common allergen
8. Most foods you buy in a normal grocery store. Almost all of these are poor quality.
Also remember: No onions or chocolate for cats or dogs. No grapes or raisins for dogs.